“Lord, we ask that You surround Emmaline with Your light. Please protect her as the boys come to her rescue. Bring her home safely, and shield those who are coming to her rescue. We pray this in the name of Your Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
I open my eyes and turn to him as Pastor Ford finishes the prayer. “How did you know that was why I was here?”
With a smile, he glances back at the cross. “For one, you’re geared up like you’re going to war.”
I glance down at the tactical gear I’m dressed in. I have a pistol holstered at my hip, though I did leave the rifle in my truck.
“Then there’s the heaviness on your heart. I know that Emmaline is the only one who puts it there quite like that.”
I turn away from him and face the front of the church. “I’m that transparent?”
“When it comes to her, you are. I’ve known you your entire life, Dylan, and I’ve never seen you look at anyone quite like you look at Emmaline. I’ve been sitting here most of the day, praying for her.” He fixes his gaze on the cross.
“I don’t understand why we have to pray for her. The fact that He let her be taken anyway makes me—” I stop speaking just short of letting my anger out.
“God has a plan for everyone under the sun,” he says. “But you’ve heard me preach on that many times before.”
I look down at the hands I’ve white-knuckled together in my lap. “Knowing it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.”
“No,” he agrees. “It doesn’t.”
“I have so much anger in my heart. I don’t know how to move past it.”
“I know you do. Just as you know I’m here when you do want to talk about it.”
My cell phone dings, so I withdraw it from a pocket on the front of my vest.
Bradyn: We’re leaving the ranch in twenty. Jesper will be landing in about forty-five minutes.
Me: I’ll be there.
“I have to go.” After shoving the phone back into my pocket, I stand. Pastor Ford does the same and meets me in the aisle.
“Where you’re headed has nothing to do with where you’ve been, Dylan,” he says softly. “You aren’t ruined because of the things you’ve suffered. God has a plan for you, and when you seek His light with all of your heart, it will break through that darkness.”
His words settle around me like bricks falling onto my head. It’s easy to say that I should seek God. I’ve been trying, but what if, after everything I’ve seen and done, He doesn’t want me to find Him?
Chapter 12
Emma
Darkness surrounds me as I lie in the center of the bed. The only source of light is the sliver beneath the door. It’s been on all night, almost like they’re trying to make sure I don’t ever feel alone enough to try to run.
Not that I could get out if I wanted to. The door is once again locked from the outside, and the window is sealed shut. I wonder if they didn’t think I’d notice that I’m sealed in here like a prisoner. Or if they even care. Why try to put up all the family gathering pretenses last night if they planned on holding me hostage all along?
Tears stain my cheeks, and my heart is heavy. I prayed all the prayers I could pray, then climbed beneath the covers in hopes of finding some sleep. Unfortunately, so far, it’s eluded me completely.
“Lord, I need help,” I whisper into the darkness.
A shadow passes beneath the door, and my heart slams against my ribs just as it has every time someone has walked by. I keep picturing Mattheus coming into the room and drugging me again. Who knows where I’ll wake if he manages to knock me out a second time?
What will they do when I continue asking to go home? Will they lock me in this room forever? Put me in shackles? Worse?
And why do all of this? What do they want me here for?
Felicity made it sound as though they had some grand plan for me—marriage to a monster. I shiver as bile burns my throat. Surely I’m past that risk, right? I’m in my thirties. In the movies, forced marriage happens to younger women in their twenties. Not a kindergarten teacher in her thirties.
Things like this only happen in movies, TV shows, or books. They don’t happen to ordinary people like me. Right?
